No. 43 Cal Topples No. 28 UCLA 4-0

Yuta Kikuchi clinched in doubles (with Philip Hjorth) and in singles in Cal’s win over the Bruins.

MTEN4/7/2023 8:27 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – Playing in his second-to-last regular-season home match, Yuta Kikuchi clinched the No. 43 California men’s tennis team’s 4-0 win over 28th-ranked UCLA on Friday evening at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Kikuchi also partnered with Philip Hjorth to clinch the doubles point.
 
The victory snapped a four-match losing streak and improved the Golden Bears’ record to 10-7 (2-2 Pac-12). UCLA’s record is 9-6 (1-2).
 
“We’ve played at that level the whole time,” said Kris Kwinta, Cal’s Peter Wright Director of Men’s Tennis. “It just didn’t go our way. It’s good to see the guys not hanging their heads but getting back to work. They all showed up for a couple of individuals (training sessions) this week…We had the best practices of the season. It’s a tough situation that pushed them to try harder and to want it more, which is awesome to see. When our backs are against the wall a little bit after four tough losses, they showed up even more. It’s a good characteristic of the team and individuals, and they played like that.”
 
Originally scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., the match was delayed by rain and eventually started at 4 p.m.
 
But the weather didn’t dampen the Bears’ spirits nor affect their usual dominance in doubles. Including the point against the Bruins, Kwinta’s team has captured the doubles point in 11 of 15 matches, with Cal’s matches against San Francisco and UC Davis not including doubles.
 
Cal’s court-one tandem of Siddhant Banthia and Carl Emil Overbeck claimed the day’s first win, beating Timothy Li and Giacomo Revelli, 6-1. Hjorth and Kikuchi followed with a 7-5 win over Bruins Jeffrey Fradkin and Aadarsh Tripathi on court three that secured a 1-0 lead for the Bears.
 
Overbeck gave Cal a 2-0 lead when he defeated Tripathi at court-three singles, 6-1, 6-3, and Hjorth made the score 3-0 when he bested Gianluca Balotta, 6-1, 6-2, on court five.
 
With Lucas Magnaudet close to clinching the victory on court six – the Cal junior had a 6-4, 5-3 advantage over Stefan Leustian – Kikuchi completed his match on court one first, beating Patrick Zahraj, 6-4, 6-2.
 
“It’s really emotional, to be honest,” said…